Almost $2bn lost in crypto project security issue

Even with the crypto market experiencing a downfall this year, data shows a major increase in criminal activities directed at the sector.

According to the study by the Atlas VPN team, based on the numbers provided by Slowmist Hacked, cybercriminals cashed in $1.97 billion from 175 crypto project attacks in the first half of 2022. The Ethereum ecosystem was the prime victim and lost over $1 billion in 32 attacks.

Monetary losses were calculated based on the conversion rate of a particular cryptocurrency at the time of a hack or scam event.

The Solana ecosystem occupies the second spot on the list. Cybercriminals stole $383.9 million from Solana-related projects in only 5 events.

Next up is the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) ecosystem, with $141.4 million in losses. In total, the BSC ecosystem faced 47 hack and scam events in the first half of this year — more than any other crypto project.

Meanwhile, non-fungible token (NFT) projects earned cybercriminals $84.6 million in 45 events, while the Fantom ecosystem brought in $54.8 million in 8 events.

Crypto project-related cybercrime nearly doubles in H1 2022

Cryptocurrencies are often advertised as a more secure alternative to traditional payment methods, but numbers tell a different story. In fact, the number of cryptocurrency project-related cybercrime events keeps growing.

If we compare this year and last year’s numbers, cybercrime numbers affecting crypto projects rose by 94%, from 90 in H1 2021 to 175 in H1 2022. Q1 of 2022 saw 79 cybercrime events — 108% more than Q1 2021 with 38 events. In the meantime, Q2 of 2022 had 96 cybercrime events, an 85% rise from 52 in Q2 2021.  Overall, cybercrime events increased by over a fifth (22%) from the first quarter of this year to the second.

To read the full article, head over to: https://atlasvpn.com/blog/crypto-hackers-stole-almost-2-billion-in-h1-2022